Engine cylinder head repairs and modifications including assembly, disassembly, and machining, etc., typically require that the cylinder head be supported in some sort of fixture or stand in order to perform the aforementioned procedures safely and accurately. Stands for supporting internal combustion engines and other related objects for assembly, servicing, display, and other purposes are well known in the art. The prior art stands are configured to allow the supported objects to be oriented into various positions so that the objects can be assembled, disassembled, machined, and displayed, etc. U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,127 to Horton shows a support rack that has a rectangular base and an arm that is pivotally attached to the rectangular base. In the Horton patent, the support that rests on top of the pivotable arm is designed for displaying an object. U.S. Pat. No. 1,272,613 to Broemel shows a machine stand that has interchangeable mandrels that are attachable at various points on the stand. The mandrels can be removed, attached, or interchanged as desired. U.S. Pat. No. 1,792,612 to Staley shows an engine stand device that is rotatable. As such, an engine can be mounted to the stand and rotated to any desired position. In the Stanley patent, the engine mounts to the stand utilizing the engine mounting bolts. The mounting brackets on the stand are adjustable in position so it can be attached to any one of a number of different engine mounts. U.S. Pat. No. 2,602,615 to Maynard shows an engine stand that is used to support an engine by the end of its crank shaft. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,382,811, 1,750,199, 1,065,979, and 4,971,286 all show engine stands that attach to engines utilizing the engine mounting brackets that already exist on the engine.
As can be seen, the prior art stands are not particularly well suited for holding internal combustion engine cylinder heads, especially, motorcycle cylinder heads as some type of adaptor is necessary for attaching the head to the stand. Furthermore, the majority of the prior art stands are too bulky to be conveniently used by the technician as they generally consist of rather large frameworks that are designed for holding heavier objects such as engine blocks or entire engine and transmission assemblies.
Up until now, because of the deficiencies of the prior art stands, the technician has had to employ an adaptor to connect the head to an existing prior art stand, use a make-shift supporting fixture, or physically hold the cylinder head with their hands or lap while performing the aforementioned procedures. Adapters or make shift-fixtures are cumbersome to set-up and can be unstable. Typically, they are not adjustable to position the head in various orientations required for machining, etc. As such, the use of these devices increases the probability of machining errors, which can in some instances, result in the destruction of the cylinder head. Even if the machining errors are correctable, additional machining operations are costly and must be absorbed by either the facility performing the work or the owner of the cylinder head. Moreover, the time-consuming nature of setting up an adaptor or a make-shift fixture, in many instances, encourages the technician to physically hold the cylinder head while machining or performing some other procedure on the head. Doing so is extremely risky in view of the dangerous nature of the power tools employed to perform the machining and other procedures on the head. Furthermore, physically holding the cylinder head during machining is not conducive to accurate, error-free machining.
It is, therefore, an objective of the present invention to provide a stand that is adapted to hold an engine cylinder head, particularly, a motorcycle cylinder head, in a plurality of orientations by threadedly engaging the threaded spark plug aperture of the cylinder head.